


To fill the void

by Random_Human



Series: ShinIchi Week 2019 [4]
Category: Bleach
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Hollow instincts, Ichigo actually works with his hollow side, M/M, Post-Winter War (Bleach), ShinIchi Week 2019
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-06
Updated: 2019-02-06
Packaged: 2019-10-23 05:56:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17677718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_Human/pseuds/Random_Human
Summary: After he had lost his powers, his ability to protect and save. And with it his new and old friends, tenuous allies and those beginning to feel like true Nakama. It wasn’t until he was there, at the pinnacle of loneliness that he began to hear the voice.





	To fill the void

**Author's Note:**

> ShinIchi Week 2019 Day 4 - Instincts  
> With this prompt I focused on hollow Ichigo, wanting to explore what would happen if Ichigo's Quincy powers had been destroyed by the Final Getsuta Tenshō but his hollow half had survived.
> 
> This was supposed to be a small drabble, but then the angst happened and it ran away from me. And look! It's actually posted on the day it's supposed to be, and at a reasonable time (aka not 11.40pm).
> 
> Anyways, happy reading!

When it first began, Ichigo took little notice. He had to train, to grow stronger, to save Orihime and protect his family. He had no time for the whims of a creature he tried his best to control, the beast he locked away, keep hidden from the world. After, however, it was different. After he had lost his powers, his ability to protect and save. And with it his new and old friends, tenuous allies and those beginning to feel like true Nakama. It wasn’t until he was there, at the pinnacle of loneliness that he began to hear the voice.

It started as a whisper, a new internal dialogue to mirror his own. But only much harsher, much more stark and critical. This new voice judged everyone and everything around them, it seemingly instinctively knew what had occurred in the past, and held this newfound separation against those who instigated it. The anger grew and grew within him, the commentary growing louder as the weeks and months progressed until the voice finally resembled something clear, something startlingly familiar.

“You.” The teen breathed, a mix of elation and fear filling him. This… presence within. It felt so familiar, so similar to that of his beloved Zangetsu, it filled him with a sense of comfort, of _home_. But unmistakable, was the tang of something other, that tinge of hollow that used to fill him much more obvious, darker and ready to pounce.

“Oh King-of-mine, you know I could never leave you.”

\--- 

Thus came a time of revelation. Dragged into his inner-world Ichigo could do little but listen as his hollow ‘filled him in’. Apparently the being he had once solely known as Zangetsu was actually in itself comprised of two separate parts, the manifestation of his latent Quincy powers – and wasn’t that a revelation, discovering that his _mother_ of all people was a Quincy – as well as the being before only known as his hollow.

It turned out that those very Quincy powers were overwhelmed by the Final Getsuga Tenshō and had almost disappeared entirely. On their own, they would take years to fully regenerate. The hollow Zangetsu however… true to his nature, he wrapped himself in the darkest depths of Ichigo’s soul, staying hidden and buried to _survive_. It turned out that Ichigo had far more in common with the Visored than he first thought.

With these newfound discoveries, Ichigo almost felt himself change. He wasn’t sure if it was for the better or worse, but he too was different, more _other_ than he had been in the past. For all those Quincy powers were inhuman, they still had a basis in humanity. The hollow side, however…

Ichigo found himself growing close to the parts of himself he once scorned, finding solace in them, finding comfort and support that quenched the growing loneliness in him. He was a protector, born, engineered as some would say, to save everyone he could. But what happens when the saviour has no one to save? The defender nothing to defend? Months with very little real human interaction, endless days filled with the crushing weight of not being enough, never being enough… it changes someone.

\--- 

Ichigo knew he could no longer trust Urahara as he once did. Yes, he respected the man, held a great deal of gratitude for the training the other had bestowed upon him, but he now knew the true realities of the situation. Knew, that once, he had been little more than a lamb raised for slaughter.

So he went to those he knew he could trust. To those who had enough of a grudge against the Shinigami that they would never speak against him, those that had rejected all offers and stated in the human world, banding together against those who had once – and still had the power to – harm them irrevocably. He went to the Visored. He went to his kin.

The Visored were a little… startled to see him, to say the least. With these differing power’s, the hollow had trained him in all he remembered, figments of stolen knowledge mixed with that he instinctively knew as one of his kind, regardless, Ichigo could now control his Reiatsu, masking his growing, differing presence, from all who would care to notice. So when he knocked on that warehouse door, letting slip his tight held control and all but blanketing the area with that distinctive hollow-tinged Reiatsu, the Visored were not sure what to think.

After minutes of discussion, the door finally swung open, Shinji stood alone in the entryway, grinning his distinctive piano-toothed smirk, this time tinged with something different, a hint of vindication mixed with a surprising amount of relief. Then Ichigo felt it, that emotion inside that had been prodding at him since he had first met the other man, an instinctual need made ten times more powerful by the newfound connection with his hollow.

Shinji stood, arms open wide and posture welcoming, as he waited. Ichigo was there in an instant, melting into a comforting embrace that felt far more _right_ than it had any right to.

“Heya Ichi, it seems like you’re finally ready to be one of us.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank's for reading! Hope you enjoyed!  
> Kudos are very appreciated and comments motivate me <3


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